The Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau. The new question: Now what?
A franchise “singularly focused on winning a championship” must now settle on its locker room voice and basketball mastermind of the future.
The problem? The field hasn’t been more saturated with options in a long time.
Four NBA head coaches were relieved of their duties midseason. Five more up-and-comers can make legitimate cases to roam the sidelines at Madison Square Garden. And for a Knicks team with money and power, poaching another team’s head coach might not be off the table, either.
The Knicks made the decision to fire Thibodeau just three days after their season ended in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, the clock is ticking as the Leon Rose-led front office settles on its new head coach.
There are at least 24 names potentially up for consideration. Here they are, in no particular order:
FIRED THIS SEASON
- Taylor Jenkins (Memphis Grizzlies)
- Mike Malone (Denver Nuggets)
- Mike Brown (Sacramento Kings)
- Mike Budenholzer (Phoenix Suns)
If the Knicks are looking for a coach with experience, there’s a wealth of them available on the board. Malone coached the Denver Nuggets to the 2023 NBA title and maximized Nikola Jokic’s skillset as a three-time league MVP. Like Thibodeau, he is an old-school coach who played with a short rotation in Denver. Jenkins turned the Memphis Grizzlies into a Western Conference mainstay and could have reached 50 wins this season had the front office not fired him with nine games left on the schedule. But there were complaints in Memphis about how he managed his rotations and a lack of creativity on the offensive end. Budenholzer led the Milwaukee Bucks to the 2021 NBA title but was dealt an imperfect hand in Phoenix and couldn’t maximize the Kevin Durant-Devin Booker rendition of the Suns. And Brown helped bring a winning culture back to the Sacramento Kings, but reports suggest he lost the locker room before he was let go after 31 games this season.
OLD HEAD, OLD TIES, NEW PERSPECTIVE
- Jeff Van Gundy (Los Angeles Clippers)
Van Gundy is a close friend of the recently released Thibodeau, so his appetite for the job is unclear. Similarly, the Knicks’ appetite for another trip down memory lane is uncertain. Van Gundy was an assistant from 1985-96 and head coach from 1996-2002. The Knicks made an NBA Finals appearance and a conference finals appearance under his leadership.
Van Gundy coached the Houston Rockets from 2003-07. He then enjoyed a successful broadcasting career from 2007 to 2023. But in 2024, Van Gundy served as a senior front office consultant for the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the title. And in 2025, he served as an assistant coach on Tyronn Lue’s Clippers staff, garnering “rave reviews” from his time in both Boston and Los Angeles, according to an ESPN report.
THE NEW BLOOD
- Johnnie Bryant (Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Royal Ivey (Houston Rockets)
- David Akinyooye (Oklahoma City Thunder)
- Dave Bliss (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Bryant and Jordan Ott, Kenny Atkinson’s top-two assistants with the Cleveland Cavaliers, were the finalists to take Budenholzer’s post as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have reportedly made their decision on their coach of the future and it is Ott. But it’s no surprise the Knicks made their decision to part ways with Thibodeau with Bryant and Ott reaching the latter stage of the interview process elsewhere. Bryant is well-respected among NBA players and has deep roots at the Garden having served as an assistant on Thibodeau’s staff from 2020-24. Ott built a strong reputation for developing young players on Atkinson’s Brooklyn Nets staff from 2018-22, then rejoined his staff for Year 1 in Cleveland. Whichever of the two ends up outside looking into the Phoenix job will be a strong candidate for the newly available Knicks job.
There are three other up-and-coming assistants, however, that could also make strong cases.
Ivey is finishing his ninth season as an assistant coach and his second year on Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka’s staff. Ivey was also on the Steve Nash-led Nets coaching staff alongside Udoka in 2021. He is also the coach responsible for resuscitating the South Sudan national basketball team, leading them to an 11-1 record in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers and their first-ever Olympic appearance in the 2024 Paris Games.
Mark Daigneault’s top assistants as head coach of the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder could also be on the table. Bliss and Akinyooye have each assisted Daigneault in building a contender in his five years in OKC. The Knicks could tap one of them to recreate the free-flowing offense, staunch defense and deep rotation fueling the Thunder’s title run.
THE COLLEGE CALL-UPS
- Jay Wright (Villanova Wildcats)
- Dan Hurley (UConn Huskies)
- John Calipari (Kentucky Wildcats/Arkansas Razorbacks)
The Jay Wright scripts write themselves. The coach who led Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart to a title at Villanova reunites with his old gang to win it all at the Garden. Will Rose fulfill the Nova Knicks prophecy? The pope after all is also a Villanova graduate.
Or maybe the basketball gods have another collegiate call-up in store: Dan Hurley, who turned down a lucrative offer from the Los Angeles Lakers job to return to UConn and coach the Huskies. Maybe John Calipari finally throws his hat in the ring after ending his reign at Kentucky and picking up at Arkansas?
If the Knicks go this route, Wright seems to be the most likely candidate given his ties to the current roster core, though replacing a perennial playoff contending coach (Thibodeau) for a college standout with no pro experience would be a risky proposition in a high-leverage situation.
CAN WE TALK FOR A MINUTE?
- Ime Udoka (Houston Rockets)
- Tyronn Lue (Los Angeles Clippers)
- Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics)
- Mitch Johnson (San Antonio Spurs)
- Jamahl Mosley (Orlando Magic)
- Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat)
Just how far are the Knicks willing to go? Will they jump through the red tape and try to poach another team’s head coach?
The Knicks would first need to get permission to contact another coach or executive. If the party is interested, the Knicks would then need to talk compensation, be it financial or using draft picks (the likes of which the Knicks no longer have en masse).
If they can clear those hurdles — and if the rival team is interested in parting ways with their coach — the Knicks can theoretically pry their dream candidate away from another franchise.
Udoka immediately comes to mind, though it’s hard to see the Houston Rockets moving on from the man who brought their franchise back to relevance. Johnson has been a longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant before stepping up for Gregg Popovich, who fell ill. Mosley has a relationship with Brunson, Hart and Bridges and has turned the Orlando Magic into the kind of team sure to be feared for years to come. And if Lue were to ever become available from his post with the Los Angeles Clippers, he could land any job he wanted within seconds. The same can be said for Spoelstra, though he’s probably a Miami Heat fixture for life. And who knows? What if Stevens wants a second shot at coaching? Stevens is well regarded for his basketball IQ and ability to develop young talent.
REMAINING COACHING PROSPECTS
- Chris Quinn (Miami Heat)
- Sean Sweeney (Dallas Mavericks)
- James Borrego (New Orleans Pelicans)
- Darvin Ham (Milwaukee Bucks)
- Micah Nori (Minnesota Timberwolves)
If none of the aforementioned names are attractive to the front office, there are other quality coaching candidates on the market, though they vary in experience and success. Quinn, for example, has been on the Heat coaching staff for a decade. His opportunity could come soon. Sweeney was among the finalists for the Phoenix job before the front office narrowed the search down to Bryant and Ott. Borrego showed signs of life in Charlotte (43 wins in 2022) but succumbed to the perpetual dysfunction surrounding the Hornets franchise. Ham is a former Lakers head coach known for his strong player relationships, and Nori has 16 years of assistant coaching experience and is known best for his cheeky in-game interviews.
AN OUT OF THE BOX CANDIDATE
- Rick Brunson (New York Knicks)
Do the Knicks promote Brunson, who was lead assistant on Thibodeau’s staff? Doc Rivers coaching Austin Rivers on the Los Angeles Clippers is the only example of an NBA head coach leading their son. If the Knicks believe a new voice can penetrate the locker room, perhaps the voice is one that needs to be amplified from within.
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